1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to self loading firearms and, more particularly, to a super and subsonic gas regulator for use with self-loading firearms
2. Description of the Related Art
Adjustable gas regulators have been utilized on self loading firearms since the 1940's. Some early examples are the Soviet SVT and Belgium FAL. The first gas regulators were designed primarily to deal with inconsistent pressures associated with ammunition of that time. This pressure differential would cause excessive wear and/or malfunctions of a firearm's operating system. With the improvement in modern ammunition manufacturing, the necessity for a gas regulator was mitigated and more modern firearms like the AK47 and the M16 were designed without a gas regulating capability. Now with an ever increasing use of silencers, many current designs like the Barrett REC7, Sig Sauer 516 and the Ruger SR-556 have reintroduced gas regulating features into their designs to manage back pressure.
Back pressure is created by a silencer forcing discharge gas into the rifles operating system. The increase in the volume of discharge gas passing through the operating system of a firearm can result in increased rates of fire, fouling, felt recoil, accelerated wear of the firearms components and a plethora of operational related malfunctions. With the introduction and increasing popularity of subsonic ammunition, a further evolution of the gas regulator is needed to optimize a firearm's operational capability with subsonic and supersonic ammunition, with and without silencer use.
Prior gas regulated firearms like the Belgium FAL and Soviet SVD regulate gas by exhausting gas into the atmosphere making these firearms impractical for silencer use because the exhausted gas would make a report and often flash upon entering the oxygen rich atmosphere, nullifying the silencing and flash hiding effect of a silencer. More recent designs like the Barrett REC7, Sig Sauer 516 and Ruger SR-556 have incorporated a silencer setting into their design, but all lack subsonic ammunition capability. The operator can only achieve a firearm's full potential when subsonic and supersonic ammunition can be utilized in a single firearm.
Subsonic ammunition offers a reduction in sound, flash, and actual and felt recoil, increasing firearm controllability over that of supersonic ammunition. Supersonic ammunition offers higher velocity, flatter trajectory, greater range, and higher kinetic energy over subsonic ammunition. The problem with existing gas regulators is that existing gas regulators do not have the capacity to utilize both subsonic and supersonic ammunition, nor do they offer a retro fit gas regulator conversion kit that is subsonic and supersonic capable. Furthermore existing gas regulators lack 360 degrees of adjustment, making them susceptible to accidental disassembly while in use.
The presently disclosed gas regulator offers many advantages over the prior art. More specifically, the presently disclosed gas regulator provides four positions of adjustment or gas settings including reduced gas flow, normal gas flow, subsonic gas flow, and no gas flow settings. Each position of adjustment has a precisely sized gas port to optimize performance with subsonic and supersonic ammunition with or without a silencer. The gas regulator works by restricting the flow of gas from the host weapons barrel and not by venting excess gas into the atmosphere. The gas regulator is spring actuated and includes a plurality of position stops that are positively engaged by a flat defined on a cross-pin to selectively lock the gas regulator in any one of the four positions of adjustment or gas settings. The method of actuating the gas regulator and the size of the gas regulator facilitate rapid ambidextrous single handed manipulation under adverse conditions while wearing gloves. Furthermore, the presently disclosed gas regulator does not require the use of tools or manual release activation to rotate between gas settings. In addition, the gas regulator can rotate continuously 360 degrees without accidental disassembly, while in use; however the gas regulator may be quickly and easily disassembled for routine maintenance. Furthermore, the gas regulator can be easily retro fitted to existing gas operated firearms.